Saturday, September 20, 2014

Saturday 20 September - Arundel, Amberley and Treacle Mine Loco

We tried using our credit cards instead of the Oyster card. Mary got in past the machine at Gloucester Road but it wouldn't let me through so I had to use.thisis iyster card. At Victoria the machine wouldn't let Mary out.
We caught the train to Arundel and walked into the village and the castle.  Just before we arrived the guard came around to check tickets. He asked the couple opposite why they were sitting in standard class with first class tickets. They hadn't realized they had first class tickets. This was a 90 minute journey and they got off with us.
The Castle from the village
 
The castle is well maintained and we enjoyed the keep as well as the castle rooms which are still lived in. Unfortunately no photography is allowed.
The grounds are well maintained and we particularly enjoyed the gardens, especially the water garden.
This large stand of trees made a great place for the kids to play
Underneath a Horse Chestnut tree were these flowers among the fallen conkers.  A couple of kids were greedily collecting the conkers

Click here to see all pictures taken at Arundel
There was just time for a visit to the White Hart for a Sussex Brewery bitter and it was off to the station for the short ride to Amberley.
The Amberley museum village demonstrates a number of crafts in particular relationship to the lime industry which developed around the chalk pit. Although this is an overgrown abandoned chalk quarry it wad very pleasant walking through the trees looking for the various exhibits.  There are a number of narrow gauge industrial locomotives and rides are given along a short length of track.
A narrow gauge train was giving rides
This is one of the narrow gauge locomotives from the Guinness Brewery in Dublin

My attention was drawn to a locomotive called "Sticky". This worked at a porridge quarry and then was moved to a treacle mine. This is the notice which explains Sticky.

ACME RAILCAR COMPANY
8HP 4 cylinder petrol engine with parented "Autodrive" drive system.
Built in the Company's Lion Works in Coventry in 1941 to the order of the 
Ministry of Fuel and Power, for use in forestry work in North Wales 
to an unusual gauge of 2ft 1ins.
Sold off in 1952 to a local company Cokeham Porridge Quarries Ltd, 
it was later transferred to Sompting  Treacle Mines Ltd, 
where it was used in No. 2 Mine until a slump in world treacle prices 
caused the company to cease trading in 1989.
It was there that it was discovered in a derelict condition and was brought to the Museum and restored for the training of junior engine drivers.

Following this momentous discovery we took the Museum train back to the entrance and tried to find Amberley village.
Click here to see all pictures taken at the Amberley Museum
It appears that the village is some way away from the station of the same name and the busy road has no sidewalks. We consoled ourselves with a drink at The Bridge until it was time to catch the train back to London.